A hospital in mainland China has advertised a special installment payment package for university students, for getting abortions conveniently, in the event of accidental or unwanted pregnancies. The hospital's marketing poster has caught the attention of Hong Kong's netizens and has triggered a moral debate.

Hospital's happy ad

The hospital's poster, showing three girls jumping with joy because now they can pay by installment for abortion. Public Image.

If you get pregnant by accident during your university year
Now there is installment payment package for abortion
This offer is limited to students only
You just need to bring your ID or student card, in person, to Shenyang Sun Yatsen hospital and then you can enjoy our installment payment facility for abortion. The first installment is as low as 30% and there are other packages of your choice. The process is very convenient and we will make sure your privacy is protected.

While abortion is a common practice in China, the poster has triggered a moral debate [zh] in Hong Kong:

@Aris Coffee: If we put aside religious reasons against abortion, I don't see any problem in this advertisement. The installment payment is helpful to those university-going women who get pregnant by accident and who are not mature enough to become parents. They don't need to go to the unlicensed doctors for abortion. The installment payment arrangement is no different from buying medical insurance or electrical appliances by installment.

@俞火: I don't think this is a legal or religious issue. We are talking about life here. No matter what the circumstances, it is a serious issue, rather than being a joyful decision for jumping up and down. The choice may be the same, but the attitude makes a difference. Whether you would learn from the incident and avoid making the same mistake again depends on the attitude.We don't want these kids to go to unlicensed doctors for abortion, but it doesn't mean that they have to so happily promote abortion as “joyful and exciting”, as if it is for some merchandise for a party!

@Carmen Tong: I am not against abortion and as you have mentioned, women should be able to take control of their own body. What I dislike is the value that this advertisement is promoting: that it is easy to get rid of a life. You don't need to have all the money ready, you don't need to have safe sex – when accident happens, we can take care of it.This is similar to those easy loan ads, encouraging you towards wasteful consumption even if you are in debt.

@Joyce Ho: For those who think this advertisement has no problem, do you know that in China they don't have sex education? Such kind of advertisements which look down upon life and beautify abortion, has led to the extremely careless sexual acts among teenage girls. They don't perform safe sex and may undergo several abortion operations within a year. I don't want to entangle in the debate about the right to life of the embryo, but unprotected sexual intercourse and frequent abortions are very harmful to women's health. This is common sense. However, in mainland China, so many young girls, even university students, are ignorant about such facts. Shouldn't the medical companies and the government take responsibility for the situation?

Support our work

Global Voices stands out as one of the earliest and strongest examples of how media committed to building community and defending human rights can positively influence how people experience events happening beyond their own communities and national borders.